Fruits of the Spirit

 

Thanks to the kids at Rockford Lutheran Academy for the great banner!

We often have to ask who we can trust.

Our society is perhaps more divided than it has ever been. "Tribalsim" is rearing its ugly head in ways that have already....ALREADY...led to violent uprisings in our country. It scares me and I often find myself reacting in ways that have more to do with my personal past traumas than with how I know I should react as a religious leader. I need to do better.

We have to decide whom we should trust. That's not the same thing as choosing sides. There may be people who have come to different conclusions than us in some matters, but still did it from a sincere and Godly place. There may very well be people to trust on BOTH sides...at least I hope there are.

In deciding whom to trust, Scripture gives us some guidance in what are called "Fruits of the Spirit". In Galatians 5:22-23 they are listed as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. People who demonstrate these characteristics are people to trust. Watch our leaders, watch your neighbors. Who do you know who demonstrates these attributes? Lift THEM up!

Just prior to listing the Fruits of the Spirit, Paul tells us the characteristics in people we should avoid: "fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these." Some of these words seem to have definitions for us (in the 21st Century) that may seem "open to interpretation" but I think there's enough specificity and context for us to get a picture of the people to avoid. Most certainly these sins are something many of us have been guilty of, but we haven made a way of life of them. They aren't our habit.

I want to leave you with one last thought; Judging someone by the fruits of the spirit is NOT the same judgement that Jesus warned us against in Matthew 7:1-3 ("Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. ) There is a difference between "judging" or "being judgmental" and just using good judgement. And I plan on exploring that difference very soon in another message.

In the mean time, have a blessed Memorial Day weekend. Remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country and pray that those freedoms and principles endure. They are in peril.